A Dance With Darkness
by druglessaddict
Summary: Post Eclipse. After Bella and Edward marry, Bella suddenly falls into a coma. Her future disappears. No one can figure out what caused this to happen, or how to fix it. *Rated T for now, may change later.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

EPOV

The waiting room was quiet; it was at least one in the morning. The receptionist had shuffled and reshuffled the same stack of papers at least four times by this point. I wasn't sure what was making her so nervous; she hadn't been this way when we first arrived. Her mind wasn't giving anything away, either.

Anxiety was drowning me as I waited to hear something, anything. Three hours without a single word from anyone about how she was doing. They say that no news is good news, but my sanity was slipping through my fingers.

A clock in the far corner of the room was testing my already nonexistent patience. Repetitive ticking filled the void of noise, and I was ready to scream. I walked over to the front desk.

"Can you please give me any information at all?" I pleaded for the umpteenth time.

"I promise you, I will tell you the second any information is available," she said as she took an intense fascination in her nails. Her jumpy behavior was making me nervous. Like she knew something she didn't want to.

I sighed and sat back down. I started pulling on the frayed strings of my jeans to occupy my hands.

Earlier in the day, around three or four, we had left the apartment we were staying in to walk around, do some sightseeing. It was a beautiful day for London and we wanted to make the most of the rare occasion. If only I knew that decision would end up with spending the night in the emergency room.

I had called Carlisle, repeatedly, but he wasn't much consolation, especially being thousands of miles away in Alaska. Bella's parents were nowhere nearby, either; we've been slightly isolated for a few months. I tried calling them, too, but no one answered.

It was a calm day, the kind that made you want to just sit outside and breathe in fresh air. The perfect chance to slow down and take it all in.

We moved to London in the spring, and everything about it was lovely. We had both wanted to leave home and go somewhere new, somewhere to begin our early married lives.

Her parents were none too pleased, being so freshly graduated from high school and married, then disappearing to a new country entirely. I guess I understand their concern, but it didn't really affect our decision. My family understood, as it was time for all of us to leave Forks to keep suspicions down.

I wasn't sure what had happened then. We were sitting on a bench in a small, quiet park. She sat cross-legged, facing me. We were silent, enjoying the silence. Then, without any warning, I noticed her eyes glaze as her head snapped forward, falling unconscious. It was as quick as that. No one had seen it coming. And it would change all of our lives.

I checked her head as I took her to the hospital as quickly as I could. Not a single mark, bruise, bump, anything.

I called Alice, surprised she hadn't warned me beforehand. When I told her what had happened, she was just as shocked. She couldn't see anything related to Bella at that point. I've been numb since she said that. Nothing. Like she was already gone.

_Brain dead? _I had asked her, fear controlling my body. She didn't know. Carlisle didn't think it was possible with no trauma to her brain.

Her future was lost.

When we had arrived at the hospital, the neurologist began asking questions about what happened. Her thoughts told me that she assumed it was my fault; that I had hit her or poisoned her. I knew the idea was crazy, and convinced her I didn't touch her.

It wasn't until nearly 8 hours later did I hear an update. They found nothing wrong. No tumor, nothing noticeably strange, everything was in working order. Her system was clean, but I had known that.

They let me back to see her. Her face was pale, unmoving. Her expression was blank; peaceful. Like she was just sleeping.

_No, _I thought. _Please, please wake up._

She stayed like that for four months.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

4 months later

BPOV

I opened the glass door that led to an open deck facing dense forest. It was bitterly cold out, but I barely registered the temperature. I knelt at the edge of the wooden platform and gazed absentmindedly into the darkness. I was in the home they told me I grew up in.

When I woke from the long, hazy darkness, I was sent back to Forks to stay with my father. I don't know where I was before that, or why I wasn't living there. I was too afraid to ask. The answer terrified me.

It was late January and sometime past midnight. Thick clouds covered the night sky, illuminating the landscape just enough for things to be visible. A small instinct inside me told me that this should remind me of peace and that I would've found it beautiful. And maybe I would if I wasn't an imposter in a foreign body.

That was the best description I could come up with. I felt like a parasite – invading on these people's lives with no record of how I am a part of it at all.

What could have caused me to lapse into a coma for _four months? _Better yet, why had I awakened with no recollection of anything? Not a single face nor place triggered anything inside me. I felt hollow and empty like a pitted fruit, and more alone than ever.

"_Bella, are you awake?"_

"_Do you know where you are? The date? Who _I _am?"_

These questions haunted the deepest parts of my brain. No. I don't know if I'm awake, or where I am, or when it is. And I don't know who you are. Their faces always crumpled when I told them the last part.

And the strangest face of all the ones I've seen was the one that was mine now. Not the gruff, loving face of my father, not the face of the pale, bronze haired boy or his small, sweet sister. It was my own that scared me the most.

I breathed in the cold air. Something about the crisp smell of the winter calmed me. I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms tightly around myself. I was on the verge of a breakdown and didn't want anyone to hear me.

Silent tears slipped down my face. The gentle wind made the tracks they left behind icy cold. I shivered as more spilled down my face.

_What if I never remember? _

I didn't want to consider that, but it hung like a big, black shadow in the back of my head, slowly encasing it whole.

I have to remember. I _need _to.

Snowflakes started drifting around me, dancing and teasing. They glittered and pirouetted before finding their way to the ground ever so softly. Watching them made me tired, which only made me sadder. I didn't want to sleep. What would I dream of? I had nothing to go off of, no one to make things better. Would they be nightmares? Dark, vast, edgeless expanses? What if I didn't escape them again, and relapsed? Maybe that would be better than this, I wasn't sure.

I stood, testing my numb legs, before heading back inside.

_Where was my room again? _Charlie had pointed it out to me earlier, but like everything, I'd forgotten. I climbed the creaking wooden stairs, checking the first door. Bathroom.

_Ah,_ I thought. _This one._ Pale pink walls stared at me expectantly and I stared blankly back. I closed my door, slowly as to not wake Charlie, and switched on a lamp by the bed. I started going through drawers looking for something, anything at all that might spark a memory.

I found a few books in the nightstand drawers and some pencils; only clothes in the wardrobe. Various papers sat upon my desk, everything bland and generic.

_Did I never keep anything of sentimental value?_ I cursed my former self.

I opened my closet, stretching to see what was on the tall shelf. Coats and an empty backpack. Looking down, I found a cardboard box nestled amongst shoes and various other items. Inside was a photo album, a quilt and small trinkets that meant nothing to me. I took the photo album over towards the light. The front was a dark matte red with small black branches circling the edges. I traced them reverently, admiring the simplistic beauty. I pushed every ounce of hope I had in me through my fingers into that small album. I wanted to remember so badly.

I gingerly opened the album whilst holding my breath. Something was written on the front cover.

_Happy 18__th__ birthday, Bella! We want you to fill this book with all of the memories of your senior year. We love you so much! – Charlie & Renee_

My parents. It was a birthday gift. I really hope I listened to them and filled it up. I flipped to the next page, and my breath left my body in a quick gust. I was standing with the bronze haired boy - Edward was his name. He had his arm wrapped around my waist, gazing at my face with such undeniable love.

Why hadn't he told me we were together? Not only that, he avoided me all together. He was the first person I saw when I woke up. He touched and caressed my face without saying a word. Then he noticed the confound confusion written all over my face and pulled back.

"_Who are you?" _I had asked.

Of course. Of course he wasn't just a friend, like everyone had tried to convince me. And that would explain the explicit pain that contorted his beautiful face when I told him I had no idea who he was.

I guess… it does make it easier. Not having the pressure to be better, to remember, for him as well. I didn't need that. I couldn't. It was enough to have to face Charlie and Renee, and then myself.

Perhaps that was why he hasn't shown his face since we arrived back in Forks. I must have been with him when whatever had happened to me happened.

I felt slightly calmer with the very few answers I had come up with. It was something to go off of, at the very least.

I flipped through the rest of the pages in the album. It wasn't very full to say the least. A few more shots of him and me, and one with his younger sister. Another of my father in uniform walking through the front door. Nothing sprung anything new. What I got was enough though, and I was thankful.

I slept then. Dreamlessly and deeply, I escaped.


End file.
